Tous pour un
by Canadino
Summary: Un pour tous. And croissants in the morning. Garraty/Stebbens/McVries. AU


**Disclaimer: The only thing I own is the story idea and only some of the witty remarks. I own so little; so please don't steal.**

Background music: -

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The door handle clicked and jumped to life in tiny, minute bursts. Whoever was opening the door certainly had all the time in the world as the door ambled leisurely toward entrance. Once the handle pointed downward toward the lovely cherry oak floor, the door began inching into the room. All this was done in a very delicate manner, care taken to prevent any unnecessary sound. At a certain angle, the door paused and resumed again with an earsplitting _squeak_ in the still.

Ray Garraty swore under his breath.

"It's alright," a voice called from inside the room. "He didn't wake up."

Garraty poked his head into the room. There was no rain in the forecast but the sun lingered behind the clouds the entire morning and the window allowed a soft glow into the room. The white gauzy curtains ruffled aimlessly, as aimless as the expression McVries wore on his face. He was reclined in a chair next to the window with his feet up on the glass coffee table adjacent. He was not wearing a shirt. "Where were you?" McVries ventured, glancing over to the door before staring out from the gap in the curtains.

"I got breakfast," Garraty said, holding up a paper bag as he walked into the room, his bare feet padding softly. He figured McVries probably rolled out of bed a couple minutes ago, noticed he had left, pulled on some slacks, and sat to wait for him. It certainly looked that way to him. He was, personally, more preoccupied with the individual in the bed. It was still lost in the mess of sheets.

"I said, he didn't wake up," McVries repeated, getting to his feet. "You didn't have to go get food. He's got a kitchen downstairs."

"Well," Garraty said, feeling a little stupid. He wasn't sure what made him decide to get out of the combined body heat of three people at eight in the morning, but something told him it might be a good idea to hop over to the nearest bakery. He was an instinctive kind of person.

"Yeah," McVries agreed, as if Garraty had said something insightful. "His house surprised me too." It wasn't anything unusual, really, the concept of a child of the Major having the money to afford such an ornate, spacious Spanish-style house even if he happened to be a bastard, but. They hadn't been expecting it of Stebbens.

"I thought it might be good," Garraty finished lamely. He let the paper bag rest on the desk in the corner and took off his jacket. He was feeling overdressed with McVries, although he left his shirt and jeans on. McVries wandered over to peek in the paper bag.

"French," he said. "_Tous pour un, un pour tous_."

"Right." Garraty leaned over the bed. Stebbens was still asleep, his blue eyes closed and his face calm like usual. His hair was all over the place but it was all so endearing, Garraty was sure of this. He'd never seen Stebben's mother – he'd never given them both the opportunity to – but the Major wasn't that much of a looker. At least, he didn't suspect so, behind the sunglasses and the personality.

McVries yawned loudly; everything seemed louder when the only sounds seemed to be soft breathing and the breeze of the window, which he didn't remember opening. McVries must have gone out on the balcony while he was out. "I'm gonna get in the shower," he said, stretching and cracking his joints. There was a lazy smile on his face as he watched Garraty come over from the side of the bed. "Care to join me?"

"I don't think so," Garraty said, moving to walk around McVries, but was stopped by the older boy's thick torso. He glanced up; McVries had always been irritating in his own frustratingly circular way but he had been granted the advantage of height as well. Garraty twisted his mouth. "Stebbens, he isn't awake-"

McVries made an amused sound. "What a Musketeer, Ray. Always thinking about the third leg of our triangle. Stebben's is going to join us when he wakes up. He likes the shower, remember?"

Garraty had made up his mind to try and shove his way out of McVries's grasp but he didn't have to try. There was a stirring at the bed and a sleepy voice, "What did you say about me?"

"Good morning, sweetheart," McVries purred smoothly, extracting himself from Garraty's side. He took up the paper bag in one smooth stroke and slid neatly into the spot next to Stebbens, who was sitting up groggily. "Breakfast?" Garraty rolled his eyes as McVries laid on more of the sap by stroking Stebben's hair. "Sleep well, Colin?"

"Alright," Stebbens mumbled as Garraty sat next to him on the other side. The bed recognized the familiar dips. "What did you get me?" he asked, reaching for the paper bag.

"It was Ray," McVries explained, graciously giving credit where credit was due. "He thought he'd be a dear and get breakfast for us." Stebbens opened the paper bag and sniffed and Garraty thought he'd saw a small smile. He resisted the urge and gave in, giving the sleepy boy a good morning kiss on the cheek. "Now he's just being a righteous showoff."

Stebbens laughed and closed the paper bag again. "I'm not really hungry right now."

"Neither am I," McVries chimed in quickly, shoving the bag of croissants at Garraty. "In fact, I'm actually in the mood for a shower. Garraty doesn't want to, though, so would _you_ like to join me?"

"Okay," Stebbens yawned again, giving Garraty a lopsided grin. "Are you sure you don't want to come with us?"

Garraty opened his mouth to say the croissants were going to get cold. He had a funny feeling this was all according to McVries's plan. "I'll get us towels."

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Note: Now I won't have to pick between McVries/Garraty and Garraty/Stebbens. What a wonderful thing, ingenuity. Thanks for reading!


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